Prince Rupert's Rotarians to get a look at what's next for plans for Odd Eidsvik Memorial park

A project put on the back burner a bit in 2023, is set for some forward momentum it would seem in 2024.

Tomorrow Prince Rupert's Rotary Club is hosting a presentation  with Richard Wright and Veronika Stewart set to provide more background towards the community initiative on the city's west side.

The Thursday session is part of the Regular Rotary Club luncheon series, with a start time of Noon at Highliner Inn on First Avenue West.

The Rotarians shared some notes on the presentation this week through their social media stream.

The status of the park plan was put on pause last year with some of the funding for the park redirected towards a study on the Fourth Avenue Walkway review of the summer.

During the budget discussion of November Councillor Nick Adey spoke towards both the park and the staircase issues of the time.

"I appreciate that this project is of great interest to the community members that  brought the concern forward. I also appreciate that it may be something that we choose to pursue this year, or choose not to.

The point I would like to make about it,  is that in 2023 in the 2023 Budget, we allocated 50,000 dollars from reserve or surplus, to the Odd Eidsvik Park improvement being pursued by a neighbourhood advocacy group.

And I think it was to be an in-kind  contribution, that project was delayed due to other funding challenges and we decided earlier this year; because it was sitting idle at that point, to shift that amount in order to investigate the  cost of the Fourth Avenue pathway.

I think it's fair to say that both these initiatives are the product of pretty broad neighbourhood consensus, in both those neighbourhoods.

So I note that in the 2024 Budget, the Odd Eidsvik Park funding has not been rolled over and the City Manager referred to some of the difficult decisions that have to be made in terms of trimming this as much as we can and I appreciate that.

So I think it's understandable, however, I think and this is by way of comment, I think we need to maintain an awareness that there is a link historically now between these two projects.

I don't feel that  we should rob Peter to pay Paul without paying Peter back, although I'm not sure it's going to survive the test of this particular round of budgets. 

I do think that we need to make the decisions we make about the Fourth Avenue pathway with the Odd Eidsvik Park commitment that was made earlier in mind, so I would like them not to get lost -- Councillor Nick Adey in November of 2023

With Ms. Stewart, who has a range of duties at City taking part in Thursday's Rotary gathering, hopefully some of the news that comes out of the session will also make it to the city's own information flow. 

Giving those with an interest in the Eidsvik park plans an idea as to where the proposal stands heading into 2024.

Themes of interest from the city's rotarians can be revived through their social media stream.

More notes on community themes can be reviewed through our archive page.